LifeScan and Sitel win Best Outsourcing Partnership of the Year

Sitel, a leading customer care outsourcing provider, and LifeScan, a provider of blood glucose monitoring products for people with diabetes, won the Best Outsourcing Partnership of the Year in the prestigious European Call Centre and Customer Service Awards. The event, which saw the coming together of the  European Call Centre Awards and the National Customer Service Awards , recognised the best and brightest shining stars of customer service in Europe.

Sitel and Lifescan were recognised for having a very tight and effective client/outsourcer relationship based around clear goals, mutual respect and a high-quality multilingual operation with an engaged workforce. In presenting the Best Outsourcing Partnership of the Year award to Sitel and Lifescan, the judges, led by Call Centre Focus Editorial Director Claudia Hathaway, noted that the partnership delivers excellent service while meeting and exceeding critical KPI's around quality, cost and compliance.

LifeScan and Sitel have been partners since September 2009, when LifeScan consolidated its 22 EMEA customer care centres into three Sitel sites. Sitel handles all inbound customer care enquiries for LifeScan EMEA via phone, email, fax and post across 26 languages. As a result of the partnership, LifeScan reports increased customer loyalty and a 25% reduction in annual costs. LifeScan has also been able to offer new services and greater consistency for patients across the region.

The Sitel customer care team has had a significant impact on LifeScan's business over the last 18 months. Having caring and knowledgeable customer care agents as part of a value-added service to diabetes patients is not only a key selling tool for the sales reps, it's also a powerful influencer for the patient when choosing their new blood glucose meter. According to Liz Prior, director of EMEA Customer Care, LifeScan, "partnering with Sitel has resulted in huge improvements in the delivery of service to our customers. Sitel is a true business partner. Having immersed themselves in our organisation they truly 'speak our language' now and we are actively promoting our service to patients across EMEA."

Since partnering with Sitel, LifeScan's service levels have increased by 15% and abandon rates have reduced by 8% meaning that the LifeScan patients are able to speak to a trained advisor more quickly and have greater confidence in the service they are provided. Sitel also works closely with LifeScan to develop new initiatives to improve patient care. This initiative pre-empts customer needs and reduces customer effort, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and retention.

"We are delighted that our work with Lifescan has been recognised with the Best Outsourcing Partnership of the Year award," said Lawrence Fenley, Sitel Managing Director for UK and Ireland. "This partnership is a wonderful example of the commitment we make to our clients: to go above and beyond in delivering service that not only improves customer care but positively impacts the bottom line.  He added "winning this award last year was a great success, but to win this award for the second year running is a phenomenal achievement."